Search This Blog

donderdag 14 juni 2012

One of the many decapitated heads that appeared on "Game of Thrones" last season was a prop likeness of former President George W. Bush, its creators revealed in a DVD commentary.

In the tenth episode of the HBO hit's first season, the character Sansa Stark looks at several heads on spikes. One belongs to her father, Ned, and another to the former United States president.

The show's co-creators pointed out their use of a head with Bush's face -- plus a heavy wig -- but said they weren't making a political statement. (Someone using the name SidIncoginto on Reddit pointed out Bush's inclusion, and io9, which picked up on the oddity, has video.)

"The last head on the left is George Bush," says David Benioff, one of the co-creators, in the DVD commentary.

"It's not a choice, it's not a political statement," explains Benioff. "It's just, we had to use what heads we had around."

In an interview earlier this year, Weiss and Benioff said they tried not to deliberately inject politics into their show, based on the novels of George R.R. Martin.

"We're definitely not tempted to do anything consciously," Weiss said. "Of course we're voracious news readers and we live in the world and are very influenced by the world that we live in, so I think enough finds it's way in that way – probably more than enough finds it's way in that way. To try to do it on purpose seems like it would be a mistake."

Added Benioff: "I'm always kind of irritated when I'm watching some period story where it's very obviously trying to make some kind of allegorical statement. It feels like a falsehood. I know that sounds kind of funny when you're talking about the world of fiction. But it doesn't feel like it's coming from the world itself, but like it's trying to be commentary. Like the writer's trying to be clever and teach a lesson.

Weiss concluded, "It means the story isn't about what the story's really about anymore. Which means what it's really about starts to get flat and two-dimensional. I love it when "South Park" does it though."

Keith Harris and Orville became the latest celebrities to enter the Big Brother house last night (June 12), taking part in the No Laughing Matter task with the housemates.

The iconic children's entertainers performed a gig at the Megalols Cafe alongside stand-up Jeff Leech and Britain's Got Talent's Gatis Kandis yesterday evening, where they were attempting to ruin the housemates' attempts to not laugh for two whole days.

The fewer chortles and sniggers that the housemates produce over the two days, the more chance they have of passing this week's shopping task.

Harris, Orville and Cuddles the Monkey did their best to bring out sniggers from the 16 housemates, delivering cheeky gags including the one-liner from green nappy-wearing duck Orville: "25 years he's had his hand stuck up my arse. I'm fed up!"

Big Brother has made numerous attempts to sabotage the housemates' No Laughing task, including bringing back the famous electrocution suits for another shocking challenge.

CBS made an aggressive legal move in its lawsuit against the upcoming ABC reality series "Glass House" on Wednesday, filing a discovery motion demanding emails, texts and many other documents relating to the series.

In its notice of motion and joint stipulation, filed in U.S. District Court in California, CBS says that it's asking for all documents from Jan. 1, 2008 to present "CONCERNING 'BIG BROTHER' and created in the context of or RELATING TO the development, pre-production, or production of 'GLASS HOUSE.'" That would include emails, texts, instant messages and communications on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

CBS is also asking for all series bibles, series and episode outlines, dailies, story training manuals, master control room manuals, pitches and other documents relating to "Glass House"'s format and methods of production. The network is additionally asking for blueprints, plans, drawings and other documents relating to the art direction and set-up of the domicile featured on "Glass House."

CBS is also demanding that ABC explain why "Glass House" executive producer Kenny Rosen -- an alum of CBS' "Big Brother" -- asked a "Glass House" staffer to "type up" the "Big Brother" house-guest manual, and that Rosen be called to answer questions that he was told not to answer during the deposition.

Last week, CBS sought a temporary restraining order against ABC's "Glass House," which is scheduled to premiere on Monday. ABC subsequently filed an opposition to CBS' request on Monday of this week.

CBS filed its initial suit in May, claiming that ABC's "Glass House" bore too many resemblances to "Big Brother" to be explained away by coincidence. Noting that Rosen and numerous other "Glass House" staffers had worked on "Big Brother," the network claims that the former staffers stole trade secrets from "Brother."

The suit asks that ABC and "Glass House" be blocked from using any proprietary information gleaned from "Big Brother," and that the former "Big Brother" staffers be ordered to pay $500,000 each for allegedly violating their nondisclosure agreements.

In its own court filing, ABC has countered that the similarities between "Big Brother" and "Glass House" amount to "generic staples of the reality show genre: people living in a house, competing with each other to avoid elimination, and winning a prize."

ABC also denied that the network had "poached" former "Big Brother" employees to work on "Glass House," noting that Rosen and the other "Big Brother" alum had worked together on subsequent projects, and continue to do so because they had developed a rapport.

"A group of employees followed Mr. Rosen from 'Big Brother' (where he last last worked in 2007) to "Hell's Kitchen" at Fox, and then to 'The Glass House,'" ABC's filing reads. "It had nothing to do with 'Big Brother''s so-called secret processes. Instead, it had to do with personal relationships and experience."

CBS is asking that ABC be given 48 hours to comply with its discovery demands.

A hearing on CBS' request for a temporary restraining order is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday.

Charlie Sheen's latest TV run is beginning much like his last one ended: With a big ol' legal embroilment.

Joe Roth, the producer of Sheen's upcoming FX sitcom "Anger Management," has filed a countersuit in response to consultant Jason Shuman's $50 million lawsuit, which claims that he's owed a big chunk of the series.

Shuman filed suit in April, claiming that he had developed the television adaptation of the 2003 Adam Sandler/Jack Nicholson film, but was denied back-end ownership and credit on the series.

According to Shuman's breach of contract suit, Roth tapped him in 2008 to go through Revolution Studios' film catalog for titles that could be worked into adaptation and remakes. Shuman claims that Roth promised him a sweet deal, after getting shortchanged over developing the film "Are We There Yet" into a series.

However, rather than "make it up to" Shuman as he allegedly promised, the suit claims that Roth cut him out of the loop.

"[I]n June 2011, without warning or justification, Roth went silent and refused to answer any of Shuman's emails or take any of his telephone calls," Shuman's suit reads. Shuman claims that, after getting frozen out, he saw media reports that Roth was negotiating with Sheen to develop and star in the adaptation.

The counterclaim -- which lists Roth's Revolution Studios Development Company as cross-complainant -- alleges that Shuman, a producer with Blue Star Entertainment, was told in a Jan. 24, 2012 letter that his consulting agreement was being terminated.

It is uncertain how successful Roth's counterclaim will be. Though the agreement contained language that it could be terminated "at any time, with or without cause," by Jan. 24, the date of the letter, plans for a Sheen-starring "Anger Management" were well underway. In addition, Revolution acknowledged in the letter that the agreement would still apply to certain "Blue Star instigated projects" -- including a TV adaptation of "Anger Management" -- for a six-month period.

The clause cited in the termination letter notes that, in the event that, should one of the projects that Blue Star instigated be sold with Roth as a producer, and the acquiring party is unable or unwilling to enter separate deals with Roth and Blue Star, then the latter is entitled to a "set-up fee" equal to "25 percent of the option fees and (if applicable) purchase price actually received by Revolution for such ... project, provided that no Set-up Fee shall exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000)."

Which, granted, is a long way off from the $50 million that Shuman is asking for.

The cross-complaint notes that Shuman "contends that the Termination Notice is improper."

Shuman's attorney has not yet responded to TheWrap's request for comment.

Roth is asking for a declaration that the consulting agreement has been terminated, according to the terms laid out in the letter, plus suit costs, attorneys' fees, and "such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper."

The series, which returns for its final season July 1, has followed suburban widow Nancy Botwin as she tries to provide for her family by selling pot. The setting of the Jenji Kohan-created series has shifted during its run from California to Seattle, Wash., Dearborn, Mich., New York City, and -- in the season 7 finale -- to Connecticut.

"'Weeds' has been a seminal series, which was key in establishing Showtime as a home for great original programming," said Showtime entertainment president David Nevins. "It had a groundbreaking run; entering its eighth season, it's one of the longest-running comedies in the history of cable. We all felt that it was the right time and right way to end it. It was very important to us that we bring the story of Nancy Botwin and her family to a satisfying conclusion for the devoted fans that have spent years supporting this series. Jenji has managed to surprise us every step of the way and I am confident in her plan for a spectacular series end."

Among the show's 20 Emmy nominations were three for Parker for outstanding lead actress in a comedy and three for Elizabeth Perkins for supporting actress in a comedy. The show was also nominated for best comedy in 2009. It won an Emmy for sound mixing in 2009 and for cinematography in 2010.

In March, Kohan signed an overall deal with Lionsgate, which produces "Weeds," in which she remained its show runner and executive producer. She will also serve as co-creator and executive producer of the upcoming Netflix series "Orange Is the New Black" and develop other projects.

Production on the new series -- based on Piper Kerman's memoir, "Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison" -- is slated to begin this fall.

Lydia Louisa has downplayed her relationship with pop singer Andy Scott-Lee to her Big Brother housemates, claiming that she feels like she is going out with a "normal guy" rather than a celebrity.

Lydia hasn't revealed the identity of her lover to all the housemates yet and claimed that she didn't want to name him in case people in the house use her to get extra attention in the media.

"He's stepped out of the limelight. He doesn't do anything anymore. [Big Brother] is about me and not him," Lydia told her housemates.

"I just want to be the same as everyone else. I don't want to be taken in any different way."

Speaking about her decision to keep it secret, she said: "People will think, 'Ooh, I'll get in OK Magazine, I'll be your friend'."

She added: "He is such a normal person. It is not even like going out with a celebrity. He is just a normal, normal guy. But he is, he is so normal. He is so talented, but he would just be chilling with us if he was in the house."

Scott Mason downplayed the housemates' expectations about Louisa's boyfriend, commenting: "She did say the name once but I didn't recognise it. So don't be too excited."

Scott-Lee is the brother of Steps singer Lisa and he was a member of boyband 3SL, who had hits with 'Take It Easy' and 'Touch Me, Tease Me'.

He also appeared in the reality shows Pop Idol, Totally Scott-Lee and was previously married to Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton.

Euro 2012 is proving to be a fabulous festival of football for sports fans. Even England haven't started off too badly (miracles will never cease!) in the Ukraine and Poland as the tournament heads into the second round of the group stage.

But it isn't just on the field that the tackles are flying in and competition is high. The BBC and ITV are duking it out for the title of best Euro 2012 broadcaster and Digital Spy wants to know who is winning and who has scored an own goal with their efforts so far.

The reliable hands of Gary Lineker skipper the BBC ship, which is more understated than previous major tournaments, perhaps in preparation for the Olympics Monster on the horizon.

Lineker and Match of the Day pals Alan Shearer, Alan Hanson and Lee Dixon have signed up Harry Redknapp, who joins Jurgen Klinsmann, Clarence Seedorf and David James for a killer punditry lineup, which is based at BBC Sport's new home at MediaCityUK in Salford. No boozy lads' nights out in Kiev for these boys.

Jake Humphrey and Gabby Logan are on location with the England camp and touring the grounds, while Guy Mowbray, Steve Wilson, Jonathan Pearce and Simon Brotherton head up a post-Motty lineup of commentators.

The team's big test comes on Friday (June 15), when they take over exclusive rights to the England v Sweden game.

Adrian Chiles heads up the more relaxed ITV approach to the tournament and appears to be enjoying himself (as much as Chiles ever looks like he's enjoying himself) sunning it up and enjoying coffee table banter with his team on the streets of Poland.

Big game players Patrick Vieira, Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher, Roberto Martinez and Gordon Strachan have been brought in to bolster the regular ITV lineup of Gareth Southgate and Andy Townsend and they have the comfort of a specially-constructed studio in Warsaw to their advantage.

The ever-divisive Clive Tyldesley leads the commentary team with his usual gusto and enthusiasm alongside roving reporters Gabriel Clarke and Ned Boulting.

There were no major clangers in the England v France game like their infamous missed goal from World Cup 2010, but have they raised their game enough to be crowned broadcast champions over the Beeb?

Comedy legend Jerry Lewis was transported to the hospital Tuesday night after he collapsed at a Friars Club event in New York Tuesday night, the New York Post reports.

Lewis, 86, who was on hand to receive the Applause Award and present Tom Cruise with the Entertainment Icon Award, collapsed due to low blood sugar just before he was to go on stage at the Waldorf-Astoria and bestow Cruise with the honor.

The comedian was treated and released later Tuesday night, according to the Post.

Cruise acknowledged the incident during his acceptance speech, telling the crowd, "I am sorry Jerry couldn't be here tonight, but I know he is going to be fine."

A representative for the Friars Club told the newspaper, "Jerry Lewis was so sorry to miss the Icon Award presentation to Tom Cruise last night, but is feeling much better today, and is back at his hotel and thanks everyone for their good wishes."

Lewis' publicist has not yet responded to TheWrap's request for comment.

The comedian, who has experienced health woes of late, was rushed to the hospital and forced to cancel a sold-out show in Sydney, Australia, in June.

BT has outbid ESPN to the live rights to 38 Premier League games, while Sky has picked up the remaining 116 matches in the £3 billion auction.

Media companies have been bidding for the UK television and digital rights to 154 Premier League games a season running from 2013/14 to 2015/16 - 16 more per season than currently broadcast.

Sky has maintained its position as the leading broadcaster of the league, after agreeing to pay £760m per annum for five packs totalling 116 live matches.

However, stiff competition for the rights has significantly pushed the price up for Sky, from the current level of £541m per season.

Sky will now have to pay a staggering £6.6m for each live game, up from £4.7m.

Overall, the Premier League has sold its television rights for £3bn, a staggering increase over the current deal value of £1.7bn, and providing a big windfall for clubs in the league.

But it is the arrival of BT that has caused most surprise, after the telecoms giant picked up two packs of rights - one of 26 matches and one of 12 games.

ESPN currently has 23 games per season, after it picked up the rights previously held by Setanta UK in 2009 following the sports broadcaster's collapse with massive debts.

BT offers Premier League action to its customers via the ESPN and Sky Sports channels on the BT Vision platform, but becoming a broadcaster is a totally different proposition.

A rumoured bid from Al-Jazeera for the rights never materialised, or at least was not successful.

The deal puts the future of ESPN's main channel in doubt, as the broadcaster has just one season remaining of Premier League coverage. After that, it could see a big drop in subscriber numbers.

Telecoms giant BT has long been rumoured as a potentially serious competitor to Sky, and this investment appears to suggest big plans ahead for the firm.

BT has agreed to pay £246m per season for the rights, which include 18 first picks, around half of those available.

The company said that it will launch a "football-focused channel" to carry the matches, offering "new interactive features when supplied over BT's fibre network".

Details and pricing will be published "in due course", said BT, and it also intends to secure distribution on other platforms, presumably including Virgin Media and Sky.

"We are pleased to have won these rights and to have secured around half of the best games on offer each season. We look forward to offering football fans real value and great quality using the latest technology," said BT chief executive Ian Livingstone.

"BT is already investing £2.5bn in fibre broadband. Securing Premier League rights fits naturally with this, as consumers increasingly want to buy their broadband and entertainment services from a single provider."

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore added: "We welcome BT as a new Premier League broadcast partner. They are a substantial British company that is at the leading edge of technology and infra-structure development.

"They are clearly investing in quality content to use on their platforms and when combined with the reach and pull of Premier League football they will deliver new ways in which fans will be able to follow the competition."

He added: "These are exciting times for both the football and media worlds and we should all be proud of the value both industries contribute to the UK culturally and economically.

"I would also like to place on record the Premier League's thanks to the numerous other highly credible bidders that showed such interest in the live UK rights."

Sky's live match allocation includes 38 Saturday 5.30pm kickoffs, 26 1.30pm kickoffs on Sundays, 26 Sunday at 4pm kickoffs, and a further 26 matches that will be "mainly Monday 8.30pm kickoffs.

The broadcaster said that it has been awarded the rights across all platforms, including satellite, cable, IPTV, online and mobile - meaning customers will be able to access the Sky Sports coverage on Sky Go across multiple devices, such as laptops and smartphones.

Sky also intends to offer Premier League games on its new internet-delivered, pay-as-you-watch service called NOW TV, which launches later in the year.

Jeremy Darroch, the chief executive of Sky, said: "We have never offered greater depth and breadth of coverage on Sky Sports, with unprecedented live action right across the schedule.

"At the same time we're pushing ahead with more original British content, extending our leadership as the UK's favourite triple play provider, and launching our new internet TV service, NOW TV, which will give us even more ways to distribute our content."

Darroch noted that competition for the rights has pushed the price up, but he is confident that it will not prevent Sky from delivering its financial plans.

"In what was a very competitive tender process, we are pleased to have secured the combination of rights that we wanted, providing certainty for us and our customers," he said.

"Whilst the cost is higher, we have capacity for this increase through the combination of excellent work on cost efficiency across the business and choices over other future spending.

"As a result, we remain confident of delivering our financial plans, in line with our expectations, unchanged, in each year of the new deal."

Scudamore added: "The continuing support of BSkyB for Premier League football is significant beyond the revenues delivered; the longevity and quality of their commitment has done much for the English game as a whole. We are very happy to see this relationship maintained for another three seasons."

Yahoo! and CNBC announced a partnership in which they will share content online and on CNBC.

The deal shares a similar one announced last year in which Yahoo! shares content with ABC News. It will bring their content to more than 40 million people online and nearly 100 million households that CNBC reaches in the U.S.

CNBC becomes the premiere content source for Yahoo! Finance in the U.S., and the two companies plan to launch co-branded, original videos for online and cable TV.

Here's the release...

SUNNYVALE, CA & ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ, June 13, 2012 — Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, and CNBC, the world leader in business news, today announced a strategic alliance that will dramatically expand CNBC’s online reach and presence and provide a broadcast platform for Yahoo! Finance’s original content and contributors. Together, CNBC and Yahoo! Finance will bring an unmatched depth and breadth of content to a combined and unduplicated online audience of more than 40 million* people in the U.S. each month (which is twice as big as the next competitor) and share Yahoo! Finance’s content with the nearly 100 million households that CNBC reaches in the U.S. plus the countless unmeasured viewers watching out-of-home in the offices of chief executives, on trading floors, in five-star hotels, country clubs, fitness centers and fine restaurants.

Effective today, CNBC becomes the premier content source for Yahoo! Finance in the U.S., providing investors with even greater access to its signature in-depth reporting, marquee interviews and real-time financial news and analysis as part of the site’s broad and robust set of content. Later this year, the two companies will also co-create a new slate of co-branded, original videos which will appear on Yahoo! Finance and CNBC.com. Yahoo! Finance’s journalists will contribute to CNBC’s Business Day programming and CNBC clips, news and analysis will be prominently integrated into Yahoo! Finance and featured across the Yahoo! network.

“Our mission is to create the richest and most powerful experiences for users each and every day. Partnering with CNBC will allow Yahoo! Finance to expand its offerings instantly and enhance its position as the most viewed and utilized finance site in the world, ” said Ross Levinsohn, Interim CEO of Yahoo!. “Together, we will deliver the most engaging, insightful and relevant premium and personalized real time experiences for viewers across screens.”

“This collaboration is about two leaders in their respective spaces coming together,” said Mark Hoffman, President and CEO of CNBC. “With CNBC taking a central role on the biggest business news site in the world, we now have the ability to provide real-time news, analysis and information to a larger audience and offer unmatched advertising solutions for marketers looking for access across multiple platforms.”

Key elements of the strategic alliance include:

CNBC will be the premier content provider for Yahoo! Finance in the U.S. – Greater access to CNBC.com’s stories and videos across the Yahoo! network, the No. 1 online finance destination in the U.S.

CNBC content will be prominently integrated into Yahoo! Finance, the Yahoo! Homepage and other areas across the Yahoo! network.

Original video programming - Yahoo! and CNBC will jointly produce a slate of original videos to be prominently featured on Yahoo! Finance and CNBC.com as well as being promoted on CNBC. These programs, premiering this fall, will range from market coverage to profiles of the best minds in business. Currently, one out of every four videos viewed in the Business/Finance news category occurs on these sites.** The CNBC and Yahoo! Finance teams are experts in creating and distributing engaging and compelling video content.

Yahoo! and CNBC will maintain editorial control and host their respective sites. Yahoo! Finance will continue to feature content and perspectives from Yahoo!’s editorial staff as well as reports from other industry-leading providers and experts. CNBC will distribute its content to other leading online publishers in the category.

In a coup of an interview for CNN's Piers Morgan, Casey Anthony denied killing her daughter but told him, "I'm ashamed in many ways of the person that I was."

Anthony was found not guilty last July of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. But that came only after countless media reports portrayed her drinking and partying around the time of her daughter's death. The implication was that she was happy to be free from parental responsibility.

In her exclusive interview with Morgan, she said she was aware of how she came off in the public eye and deeply regretted it.

"It's horrible. It looks absolutely horrible, and I'm ashamed in many ways of the person that I was," Anthony said over the phone, according to Morgan's account of the call. "Even then, that wasn't who I am."

Anthony told Morgan she had very rarely consumed alcohol since her acquittal.

"I was a stupid kid," she said, according to Morgan. "But I've never been a 'party girl'... and I've gone through hell."

Still, she said, "The public perception of me is bad, absolutely horrible."

Prosecutors had sought a murder conviction and the death penalty for Anthony. Her defense claimed that Caylee drowned accidentally and that Anthony lied about it -- even claiming the child had been abducted by a nanny -- because of Anthony's own traumatic childhood. She was convicted on misdemeanor accounts of providing false information.

Anthony, 26, stressed that she was 22 when her daughter disappeared, but emphasized that she did not harm her. "There's no one I love more than my daughter... she's my greatest accomplishment,'" Morgan quoted her as saying.

Morgan scored the interview at a time he badly needed a ratings jolt. In May, CNN hit a 20-year low in primetime ratings. "Piers Morgan Tonight" delivered the lowest 9 p.m. numbers for CNN in 20 years in both total viewers and viewers 25-54.

CNN said Anthony received no payment for the interview. Although legimiate news organizations don't pay for interviews, there have been cases in which they have paid for photos or accomodations for high-profile subjects -- which has been criticized as a way of getting around their no-payment policies.